


The world is ending but at least we're gay

by StariNights



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Death, F/F, Gore, Homophobia, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mental Illness, Violence, We all knew this was coming, Zombie AU, everythings burning but hey, idk - Freeform, its a zombie au ya;;, prolly, u cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22389034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StariNights/pseuds/StariNights
Summary: No I will not change the title.The world ended, that much is clear. These teens have had to adapt to their new world or die, and adapt they did.Along this story well follow three families.Jack, Race, Katherine, and Crutchie. A small group that seemed to know each other through their whole life.Spot and the Brooklyn gang. Their name seems to bring fear to most normal people and they certainly earned it.Finally, we'll meet the Jacobs family. A small, close knit family that's more then you could ever imagine.These three families will learn love and triumph along with grief and heartache. Be prepared for it all and more, up next on the new Netflix original, queer eye for the dead guy.
Relationships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Sarah Jacobs/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins, Tics (oc)/ Bear (oc), Warrior (oc)/ Spades (oc), more prolly
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	1. Brotherly Love

Have you ever see a group of friends and wondered, // ‘how the fuck have these idiots managed to survive this long?’//

Well, that's who Katherine is currently surving the end of the fucking world with. Honestly, sometimes she wondered if she’d be better off with the lurchers. Though,right now she was wondering if they’d be better off //as// lurchers. Maybe it would actually make them smarter considering this was the dumbest fucking idea in the world.

Jack, her ex boyfriend and perpetual headache, was leading their little raid on the local gang that had taken over Brooklyn. Behind him crouched Race, his friend and maybe the only person more impulsive than Jack Kelly himself. Then, there was Katherine. Shotgun aimed and ready as they crept up the hall. The last member of their group was currently sleeping in their RV. Crutchie, or C because Katherine found the nickname distasteful, had lost his leg a long time ago and usually stayed behind on raids. After all, if they had to run they didn’t want C to get left behind. As Jack younger brother and Katherine’s favorite, someone would die if he ever got hurt.

Jack held up his hand for them to pause, looking around the corner and grinning broadly. 

“Found it,” he muttered. Their target- a stockpile of food, medicine, and ammo- was holed up in a Brooklyn apartment building where Jack had used to live with some shitty foster family, at least that what he said. Apparently, the door was right there. 

“Now c’mon, let's get in and out before this gang gets back from wherever the hell they are-” he was cut off by the sound of a gun cocking and a rough voice growling behind them.

“Too late, rats.” Katherine turned around to see a tall, muscular, dark skinned girl staring down at them with a sneer and a big, scary looking gun. Katherine cleared her throat.

“Jack, if we live through this- I’m going to stab you,” she said eloquently.

“That’s fair”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

“What the fuck is this?” A short, cuban looking boy with a thick Brooklyn accent glared at the three teenagers that had just been thrown onto his floor. He had a small pistol holstered to his hip, but Katherine was more worried about the bloody looking brass knuckles attached to his hands. 

“Found these three sneaking around upstairs- I think they was thinkin’ a stealin’ our shit.” the tall girl growled in her low voice. The boy huffed. 

“Maybe we should take a page outta them Delancy’s book, put some heads on a pike outside,” he mused, “maybe then idiots would learn to stay the fuck outta our territory”

The girl kicked Jack forwards, and the brown haired boy stumbled to his knees. “This one was leadin’ the charge,”

He crouched down to his level, those scary looking brass knuckles poised below his chin. Race struggled against the rope that tied his hands together. “Wait! C’mon man, we’se fucking starvin, don’t hurt him-” the boy waved his hand and the girl shoved Race to his face.

“Shut it, Spots’ll decide what's gonna happen to ya’-”

“Wait!” Katherine’s eyes snapped to Jack, who seemed to have finally put some puzzle together. “Spots? As in Spot fuckin Conlon?! Shit, I knew I knew ya from somewhere!”

The boy, Spot apparently, seemed surprised, leaning closer to scrutinize Jack’s face. Finally, he sat back on his heels, an incredulous look on his face. “Jack fuckin’ Kelly? That really you?” 

“Hell yeah it is! Shit man-” the boy broke out into a grin, moving to rip the rope from Jack’s wrist. He rubbed his wrists lightly, still staring at Spot with absolute mirth in his eyes, “I can’t believe you’se still alive!”

“Me? I can’t believe you’se still alive! A dumbass like you, how ain’t you gotten got by some biter yet?” he reached up to ruffle Jack’s hair, but Jack wrapped in a hug instead. 

“Fuck you, ya bastard. I’m glad you’re alive” Spot grinned into his shoulder, hugging him back.

Beside Katherine, Race cleared his throat, “yo, what the fuck?” the two boys broke away looking at the three confused teenagers on the floor. The girl had yet to get off Race and his face was still pressed into the floor. 

Jack huffed out a laugh, “shit Spots, tell your girl to get off Racer there, would ya?” 

Spot nodded, waving her off. “Let ‘im up, Spades. Untie ‘em too. Jack a boy here gets a free pass for all the bullshit he’s caused.”

The girl, Spades, let him up carefully, looking at Spot with a confused expression. “Why? Who is he?”

“Yeah, how d’ya know fucking punchy mcstabby over there?” Race said from the floor, rubbing his reddened wrist as Spades cut him free with a knife from the pocket of her army pants.

Jack laughed, slinging an arm around Spot. “This here is Spot fucking Conlon, my brother.”

Katherine gave him a confused look as Spades cut her loose, “What? I thought you didn’t have any brothers aside from C,” she said, pushing herself to a stand.

“Foster brothers,” Spot clarified, ”We ran in a couple a’ the same homes a long while back. Fuck man, I ain’t seen ya in years,” he turned back to Jack, “I still can’t believe you’se alive,”

Jack had yet to stop grinning, “I can’t believe it was you who almost killed me!”

“Eh, I wouldn’t have killed ya’, these is mostly for show.” Katherine hung on to the mostly part, though she was sure the basic danger was over. Spades seemed at a loss for what to do now with no prisoners to hold captive.

“So we’se jus’ lettin ‘em go?” she asked, voice considerably less scary than before. Was she lowering the pitch just for the effect? 

Spot looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “um, duh? I ain’t gonna beat up my brotha and his friends,” he said flatly.

Spades held her hands up, “aight, cool. Just makin’ sure.”

Katherine looked at her, slightly confused. So, just like that? They would trust them that easily? Jack and this Spot kid hadn’t seen each other in years, suddenly it was like they’d never left? 

Spades saw her confusion and she smiled. Oh. Oh okay, that’s a pretty smile. “I take it you ain’t neva had siblings?”

She shook her head, “no, but they aren’t really brothers. It’s been years, biologically and legally, they aren’t even remotely related.”

She snorted, shaking her head as she looked at the two boys, who were catching up in the corner. “Family ain’t about blood or law. It’s a bond that can’t be broken. My bio dad was a piece of shit. He ain’t family. Spot? Me an him ain’t even from the same state, but he’s my brother through and through,” she bumped her shoulder lightly. “Now more than ever, we ain’t got nothin but family, no matter what kind of family it is.”

She nodded as Race leaned on her shoulder, staring at the other two boys. “Okay, philosophy aside, Jack’s brother is fucking hot, you think he likes boys?”

Katherine snorted, rolling her eyes. “I have no way of knowing that, now do I?” 

Spades shrugged, punching him lightly on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I do. That boy’s gayer than John Barrowman himself,” Race pumped his fist with a tiny “Yesssss” as Spades laughed, wrapping a strong arm around Katherine’s other shoulder.

“Oi! Spots! This reunions cute an’ all, but I’se starvin’. Grab ya brother and lets eat! I bet ya the fellas is waitin’ on us,” 

Spot stopped mid conversation, still grinning slightly. Katherine felt Race lean a little heavier on her shoulder and she elbowed him in the ribs. “Race, stop drooling on my shoulder,” she whispered and he huffed.

“I ain’t droolin’, but he’s got fuckin dimples, Kath. Dimples!” 

She chuckled slightly as Spades rolled her eyes. Spot, oblivious to Race’s gay whispers, nodded at Spades. “You take ‘em on ahead. Me an’ Jackie here got some business to attend to.” 

Spades rolled her eyes again, smiling. It was at that moment Katherine understood Race’s minor panic as she realized that Spades had dimples too. Yup. That’s cute. “Fancy shit, Conlon. Just hurry it up. You know how the fellas are about newcomers.”

He waved her off, turning back to Jack. “So, how many in your group. I think we’se got enough beds..” Katherine didn’t catch the end of that sentence as Spades was steering her and Race off, the other boy huffing slightly. 

Spades lead them down the hall, pointing to door after door. “We all share a room so no one gets caught alone. That’s Jo an’ Splasher’s place, right there’s mine an’ War’s, Tics and Bear sleep in that one there, and just down the hall, Spots shared one with Patches.”

Katherine was quick to pick up on the past tense of that. “‘Shared’? What happened?”

Spades eyes went dark for a moment. “Biters.” was all she said before continuing on down the hall. 

Katherine nodded, not pushing for anymore information. Though she always liked to have the full story, she could infer here. There were different names for them, sure. Lurchers, biters, deadheads- different names for the same monster. Her father was bit by one.

She had to shoot him right between the eyes. 

They continued on with their little tour before ending in a big room with a few teenagers piled around a table. Katherine suppressed a small amount of disappointment as Spades made her way in, dropping down to press a kiss to the side of one of the girls’ head. “Hey boys, I got someone for y’all to meet.”

“None a’ us are boys but proceed,” an androgonous person looked up, glancing at Katherine and Race for a beat before turning back to Spades. 

“Shuddup, ya’ know that shit’s a gender neutral term for me. Anywho, boys. Meet..” she gestured to them, urging them to tell the group their names. Katherine shook off her shock and spoke first. 

“I’m Katherine, this is Racetrack.” Race waved, glancing back down the hall. She couldn't tell if it was because he was worried about Jack or because he was hoping to see Spot. Probably a mix of both. 

The first kid nodded, “sup, I’m Jo Jo, use they/them pronouns or I’ll shoot you in the knees.”

Katherine glanced over to Spades for a moment and the other girl gestured to a scar on her arm. "They ain't even jokin'." 

Katherine nodded. Okay Valid. 

They went around the circle and introduced themselves. There was Splasher, the girl half-way on top of Jo Jo with makeup on point even in the apocalypse. Then there was Warrior, a girl only slightly shorter than Spades with a permanent scowl and scars all over her face and exposed arms. She saw Katherine’s gaze shifting to Spades and that scowl deepened. She pulled the other girl down by the collar of her sleeveless shirt and kissed her right on the lips. 

“Woah, what was that for?” Spades was grinning, completely oblivious to Katherine’s slight offense and disappointment. Oh well, plenty of fish in this polluted sea.

Warrior hummed in reply. “Nothin’, just felt like it,” she murmured before turning back to the card game in front of them. “So, what’s with the ginger and the twink? More street rats Spotty boy picked up off the streets?” Both Katherine and Race bristled. What a bitch. 

Spades just rolled her eyes,"babe, we were two of those rats he picked up off the street," she ran a hand through her hair as Warrior shrugged as if to say 'and your point is?'. “One a’ Spot’s old brothers showed up with these two to take our shit. They’se prolly staying with us for a while.”

“Wait,” for the first time, Splasher sat up and looked at the other two before glaring at Spades, “They try and rob us so we give ‘em room and board? How does that add up?”

“”Ey! We was starvin’!” Race said hotly, and Katherine crossed her arms, still staring Warrior down. She didn’t think her gaze was that intimidating but hey, at least she tried. 

“Yeah join the club! We all’s starvin’, don’t mean you can just take our shit-”

“We needed those supplies!” Katherine immediately regretted cutting in as Warrior stood up, taking long strides until she was only about a foot away, glaring down at her with a dangerous expression. 

“I outta throw you out that window. Them’s our supplies, not up for grabs. We ain’t a fuckin’ food bank-” she took a step closer and Katherine stumbled back.

“Babe! Enough,” Spades commanding voice cut through the tense air and she stepped forward to grab Warrior by the arm. She pulled her back slightly, rubbing her arm comfortingly, “what’s done is done. This is Spot’s brother’s crew, they’se family.”

Warrior looked like she was about to argue but Spades gave her look. Katherine had no idea what that look meant, but it seemed to do the trick as War sighed and grabbed Spades hand lightly. “Fine, but I’m keepin’ my eye on them.”

Spades grinned, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek, “I wouldn’t expect any less-” she dropped the other girl’s hand and turned to the rest of the group, including Katherine and Race who were inching closer to the door by the second. Splasher was still glaring at them while Jo Jo laid back on the floor, throwing a rubber ball straight up and down. They didn’t seem to really care. 

She clapped her hands together, “a’ight, now that that’s over, who hungry?”

Jo Jo sat up immediately, ball rolling to a forgotten corner. “Oh my god I am starving!” Splasher rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. 

Spades raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I’m taking the silence as a yes, because lets face it we’re all fucking hungry, anyone know whats for supper?”

“I think Tic’s ‘s makin’ some chili.” Katherine looked over at Warrior who, for the first time since their arrival, looked relatively calm as she gestured down the hall. 

“Sick, I fucking love chili!” Spades grinned, taking the lead, “let’s go, I’m starving.”

Katherine started along but Race grabbed her arm, “what about Jack?” he hissed in her ear. 

Before Katherine could answer, Warrior was pushing at their backs. “Get movin’, I ain’t lettin’ you two out of my sight.”

Katherine rolled her eyes but obliged, looking at Race with a small smile. “Jack’ll be fine, he's a tough guy. Him and Spot are probably going to get C and they'll catch up later.”

Race didn’t look convinced but he followed along, glancing at Warrior with a scowl before speeding up to catch up with the others.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

Katherine never realized how loud one table could get before dining with the Brooklyn gang. It seemed like there were three different conversations going on at the same time. Jo Jo was talking animatedly with Race about… something or another. Really they could be talking about oreos and Katherine would have no idea. She was too busy trying to keep up with Tics. The girl talked fast and jittered like a bug. She could see how the girl got her name.

“R-really, it’s been ages since we’ve met some other friendly survivors!” she kept one finger twirled in one of her pigtails and jerked at it whenever she stuttered for too long. 

The girl behind her, Bear, placed a firm yet gentle hand on her shoulder. Tics smiled at her and the girl's lips twitched up before she looked back to her bowl. 

The blonde took a breath before smiling at Katherine. "Sorry, I'm just antsy. After all the death I've seen.. It's wonderful to see a couple of friendly faces."

Katherine smiled softly, nodding. "Of course, I don't blame you. You all have done so much for us despite our… rough introduction."

She laughed, shrugging, "oh honey the amount of times we've almost been robbed then took in the robbers- did they even tell you how Jo Jo joined us?" Katherine shook her head and Tics tsked at the rest, "y'all really gonna let them feel all guilty when at least four of you tried stealing from us!" 

Jo Jo looked up and shrugged, "hey, I don't give a shit. Unlike War, I remember what it's like out there."

"Ey! I remember what it's like! Don't give them the right to take our shit!"

Spades sighed loudly, "Jesus- we are not having this fight right now!"

"Don’t tell me what to do babe! I love you but you don’t fucking control me. I’ll fight about whatever the hell I wanna-"

"GUYS!" all attention snapped to Tics, who was staring at the far end of the hall. All of them turned to see what she was looking at. 

There, at the end of the hall, stood a lurcher, twitching and ticking as it made its way towards the group. 

In a moment, every single one of the teenagers at the table had some sort of weapon drawn. Jo Jo crept towards it slowly, spiked bat in hand. With one quick motion, they bashed its head in and jumped back as it dropped like a bag of rotting meat to the ground.

They gagged, “fuck, you never get used to the smell,” they muttered, kicking at it limp arm. 

Tics ran over to check on them, even though they all saw what happened. Jo Jo was fine, but she still flitted over them until she was sure there was no bite. Meanwhile, Warrior was whispering harshly to Spades and Bear. “How’d it get in? We got that down stairs locked tight!”

Spades shrugged, shaking her head and glancing back down the hall. “Maybe Spots.. Maybe he forgot to lock up when he left to go find the rest of his brother’s group?” Splasher gave her a Look and she shrugged again, “just a thought, I don’t know how it got in otherwise-”

“Guys...” Katherine glanced over at Race, who was staring out the window with wide eyes. The others didn’t notice, still trying to figure out the mystery.

“Maybe it broke through? It’s been a while since we’ve done a check.”

“Guys-” he turned back to them, panic in his blue eyes. Katherine walked over to stand beside him and looked out at whatever he was staring at. Her heart dropped out of her chest and she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

“No way, a biter just broke straight through some wood planks?”

“Maybe! They’se been getting stronger and if one of the tankers got in-”

“GUYS!” Katherine jumped back from the window, dragging a still speechless Race behind her. The rest turned to look at her and she jerked her hand towards the window before taking off down the hall, Race in tow. 

It was Jack, Spot and C. they were standing on top of the RV and they were surrounded by Lurchers. 


	2. Road trip!

Katherine couldn’t breathe as she bounded down the stairs, knocking lurchers out of her way with the butt of her gun. Race was hot on her heels, pistol drawn and aimed at any she missed. 

They were down the stairs and out the door in a minute, but even that felt too long. 

“Jack!! C!!!” she fired a shot in the crowd of lurchers. One fell, but it’s place was quickly taken by another. She cursed out loud as she loaded another shot, tears burning at her eyes. 

Not after everything, not like this, not //now//-

Race was firing into the crowd, hitting headshots with each pull of the trigger. Together they were dropping bodies left and right, but it just seemed to bring more out of the woodworks. She was too busy trying to clear a path that she didn’t notice the shambling body shuffling closer to her until it grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to the ground.

She screamed, keeping its gnashing teeth away with one hand to its neck and the other to clawing at its concave chest. Her nails started sinking into the rotting flesh of its neck and it started forcing itself lower and lower and-

Without any warning, rotten blood splattered onto her face and the lurcher fell to her side. She was panting as she looked up to see Jo Jo with one hand out to help her up and their bloody bat in the other.

“C’mon, get up! We gots biters to bash!” they quickly pulled her to her feet before sprinting into the crowd of undead. Katherine followed quickly, slipping a knife out of her pocket and burning it into concave skulls and twisted throats. One look around her told her that the rest of the Brooklyn gang was quickly clearing the crowd. Spot and Jack kicked down lurchers that made it up the side while C picked them off with his pistol. 

Spades was smashing heads with her heavy boots and knocking them down with her gun. Katherine hadn’t seen her fire it once, which was a generally good idea. Tics and Bear worked in tandem, covering each other’s back. Tics’s axe was buried in a skull as she ducked and Bear swung her bat over her head. Splasher worked with Race, somehow with perfect eyeliner despite the black blood that speckled her cheeks. She shoved Race out of the way before bringer her sledge hammer down hard on a lurcher’s skull. 

“Oi Ginger! On your right!” Katherine turned just in time to see what used to be a woman with only one arm and half a jaw. She jumped back as a shot rang out and the body dropped.    
  
Katherine looked to her savior to see Warrior giving her a salute. She smiled lightly before jumping back into the fray. It was chaos, a bloody mess. It felt like the dead were never ending, unlike their bullets. She heard a groan of frustration from C.

“I’m out!” 

Race chucked his seemingly empty gun at a lurchers skull and knocked it down for Spades to stomp. “Me too!” 

Warrior screamed in frustration, which Katherine felt particularly close to. “We can’t do this forever! We gotta get ‘em out of there!” 

Spot kicked another one down, screaming when one got a hold of his foot. “Fuck!” he reached down and Katherine saw why those brass knuckles looked so scary. He slammed his fist into its head and black blood splattered everywhere. There wasn't much of a skull left when it fell. He stood back up, surveying around. 

“Okay, new plan! Clear a fuckin’ path and run!” he scooped C up bridal style and jumped down on the side with the least amount of lurchers. Jack followed close behind as the Brooklyn Gang all worked to clear a path. The three from the RV booked it to the door, the rest following behind after a few more shots at the hoard. 

Tics shoved Katherine inside before slamming the door and pressing her back against it. ”Someone get a barricade!” undead bodies slammed against the door and she pressed harder against it, gritting her teeth. 

Spades and Warrior shoved a dresser from a nearby apartment and pushed it over in front of the door. Tics ducked out of the way just in time to be out of the way when it fell. The lurchers banged on the door outside. She huffed loudly, backing into Bear’s arms. The taller girl wrapped her arms around her tightly, resting her chin on her head. Hm, a gal of few words, Katherine could respect that.

Katherine looked at C, who was still in Spot’s arms. “You okay?” 

He nodded, looking at Spot with both amusement and annoyance. “I left my crutch in the RV, so I guess I live here now,” he gestured to the ironically shorter boy, who was rolling his eyes. 

Race made a affronted noise that kind of sounded like “Lucky” and Katherine rolled her eyes. Splasher, however, was not amused. 

“What the fuck! I can’t beleive this, I can’t fucking believe this!” The rest of the gang seemed taken aback, looking at her like she’d just lost her marbles, “Spot almost died for some kid we’ve never met! We’re out of ammo and low of meds and Jo Jo has a fucking scratch-” a choked noise came from her throat as she gestured to Jo Jo’s arm, which was bleeding heavily. They shrugged, seemingly unaffected.

“It’s nothin’, really-” Tics rushed over, grabbing their arm and looking it over. 

“Fuck, fuck this is gonna need to be bandanged and cleaned,” Jo Jo sighed loudly, clearly not havng it. 

“I’m fine, seriously. It’s just a scratch, ain’t like I got bit-” Tics cut them off with a glare. 

“If we don’t stitch this, it’s going to get infected then you might lose an arm or worse, die.” she took a deep breath, “we need something to at least cover it until we get the supplied.”

Spot handed C off the Spades, who situated him on her back. He tugged off his shirt and handed it to her. “Here, tie this around it. I got more”

Katherine glanced over at Race, who seemed to have forgotten about his crush in favor of staring at Jo Jo with concern. She looked at the ground, she just couldn't look at them.

Tics wrapped the cloth around Jo Jo’s arm tightly, letting out a shaky breath. “That’ll have to do until we get more supplies. I think we have some alcohol upstairs to disinfect it-”

“That is if these two didn’t fucking steal it!” Splasher gestured accusingly to Katherine and Race. Spot narrowed his eyes but Spades was already talking. 

“Splasher, stop. Seriously. They risked their lives to save Spot, I think they’ve earned a little fuckin respect!”

“But we wouldn’t even be in this mess if they didn’t break in-”

“we’ve all done shit in the past. Have you already forgotten about last winter? Because I fuckin haven’t-” the taller girls harsh, commanding voice seemed to shut her up, but Spades wasn’t done. “I get you’re upset, we all are, but don’t go treating these guys like shit because you’re scared!”

Splasher stared her down for a second before dropping her gaze to the ground. Spot looked between the two before huffing gruffly. 

“I don’t know what happened while I was out, but ya betta’ get it under wraps. We don’t have the luxury of havin’ petty fights anymore, we are low on everything from ammo to food and now there’s a hoard at our door that doesn’t seem to be movin’ on anytime soon. We need a plan and we need everyone to stick to-fucking-gether, ‘cause fightin’s what’s gonna get us killed.”

The Brooklyn gang nodded solemnly and Katherine realized how Spot had kept them all together for this long. He was smart, strong, and genuinely cared about the kids he took in.

Shit, maybe Race was onto something trying to get into his pants.

The room went silent and Tics huffed. “Listen, I hate to say this, but we need to get out of the city.”

“Where would we go?” Spades looked up from the ground, genuine fear in her eyes.

“I- don’t know, but we can’t stay here!” Bear squeezed her lightly, pressing her lips to the top of her head. Tics sighed, leaning back with her eyes closed and taking deep breaths. Katherine looked around the group before taking a deep breath.

“We should head south.” she said. Spot nodded to himself.

“Less people means less biters, more land, maybe we could even set up a farm-”

“NO!” everyone turned to Splasher, who looked terrified of the prospect, “We can’t leave the city. We know what we’re doing here, we know where we stand. If we leave we’re just begging for death!”

“For once, I agree with Ginger over there,” Warrior glanced at Katherine for a beat before looking back at Splasher, “We’ve picked this place clean, and what happens next time someone gets hurt? Spotty boy’s only got so many shirts, and we need a place to grow food and clean water if we’re gonna make it. Not to mention the winter…”   
  


They all looked to the feet. Winter would be the worst of it. Cold, long nights- something about it froze the Lurchers, hardened their bodies. They could run, bites infected faster. If the hypothermia didn’t get you, then the supercharged dead would. Last winter, it was all Katherine and her boys could do to survive, and even then not everyone…. Not everyone made it through.

Splasher looked panicked, “We can’t-”

“We have to.” Spot’s voice was full of finality, and there was no way of arguing with him. “We leave in the morning, stop by some local spots to gather as many supplies as we can. Take whatever we missed and then get the fuck out of here while the biters hide away in their holes. Head south.”

Spades nodded. “Hey, I got family down there. Grandparents had a farm in virginia. Maybe they’re still… maybe they made it. Even if…” she trailed off, taking a breath before continuing, “no matter what, there’ll be food and shelter there. Hell, the goats and chickens might still be roamin’ around,”

Spot nodded, clasping his hands together. “Aight, then that settles it. Everyone sleep well, we leave for Virginia in the morning,” he turned to Jack, Katherine, C, and Race, “C’mon. I’ll show you guys to your rooms.” 

They nodded, following him up. Katherine glanced back to see Splasher crouched with Jo Jo, running a hand through their hair and whispering to them quietly. 

She turned around with her head down. All she could do was pray they’d make it. 

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━

Spot lead them down the hall from earlier, pointing at one of the empty apartments. “A’ight, Katherine and… Race was it? You two can sleep there. C’ll be safe with Spades and War, Jack a’ boy, you’re with me-”

Jack stopped him mid sentence. “Sorry, I don’t let C outta my sight.”

Katherine glanced at Race and the stupid puppy dog eyes he was giving her before stepping forward, “neither do I. He’s like a brother to me, I’m sure you understand.”

Spot shrugged, “A’ight, you three can sleep there, but there’s only two beds. Two of you’ll have to double up. Race, you’re with me. C’mon.”

Race mouthed a dramatic ‘thank you!’ to Katherine before following behind the still shirtless boy. Jack raised an eyebrow at her, “why’d ya do that?” he asked, oblivious as always.

She just shrugged, “he snores. Spot can deal with it” she said simply, turning to walk into the room. 

C giggled from Jack’s back. “Hope Race can handle him, he sure is ‘big’!” Katherine cackled as Jack followed behind her, more confused than ever.

“Well, Race is a tough guy. I’m sure he’s well prepared,” she replied. They both giggled as Jack’s eyes widened and he stopped in the middle of the room, door closing behind him. 

“Wait, please don’t tell you two are talkin about what I think you are!” Katherine shrugged, still grinning as she walked to her bed, “no, is Race gonna fuck my brother? Kath, Kath c’mon wait!”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

Katherine was one of the first people up the next morning. She was sitting at the kitchen table with Tic and Bear when Race shambled into the room. She nodded to him, sipping on her water. 

“Sleep well?” she asked with a grin.

“Shut up” she snickered as he laid his head down on the table beside her. Tics raised both eyebrows and looked at him with concern. 

“Spot didn’t keep you up, did he? I know he gets a bit restless at night…” Katherine bit her lip to keep from cackling as Race groaned.

“No, he fucking didn’t, that bastard…” he grumbled into his arms.

Before Tics had a chance to ask him what the fuck that meant, Spot knocked on the door frame. “We leave in ten, go get your stuff and wake up your roommates. Oh, and Tics? Can you go check on Jo Jo and Splasher? I wanna make sure they’re okay before we head out.”

Tics nodded and stood, Bear following behind. Spot turned to Race and Katherine. With a raised eyebrow. “You goin or what?” 

Race groaned, not moving. “I’m going to kill you in your sleep,” he muttered, “or I would if you actually slept” 

Spot shrugged. “I can deal with that, now get goin’. We don’t have all day.” Race groaned again before dragging himself from the table. He shuffled out of the room. Katherine was just about to follow him when Spot stopped her. 

“Listen, red. We gotta talk about that hair of yours,” he said gruffly.

She ran her hand through one of the curls self consciously, “What’s wrong with it?”

Spot sighed, leaning on the door frame and looking at the floor. “Listen, I saw that biter grab you yesterday, and I’m willin’ to bet that it ain’t the first time that’d happened to ya”

She looked down. No, no it hadn’t been. “So? What’d you want me to do about it?”

He sighed, producing a pair of scissors from his pocket. “Ya’ gonna have to cut it.”

She stared at him for a moment, hand frozen in her hair. Her long hair that she loved long that was part of her that she's had since before everything-

It was stupid, but in a world like this you get attached to stupid things. 

He sighed, like he understood exactly what she meant. “Listen, I’m sorry ‘bout this, but it’s necessary.”

Katherine sighed, snatching the scissors from his hands. “Fine,” she snapped. She knew it wasn’t fair to be angry at Spot, he was just trying to protect her. That didn’t take the anger away, nor did it fix the fact that she was about to lose one of the only things she had from Before.

He stepped out of her way so she could storm off. He wouldn’t look her in the eyes, and somehow that gave her a sense of satisfaction. 

She stormed up to her and the Kelly-Morris brothers’ room. C was trying to get Jack to wake up and he was begging for ‘just five more minutes’. C looked up as she slammed the door. “Hey, Kath. What’s wrong?” 

She just showed him the scissors before slamming the door to the bathroom. She leaned on the sink, staring at herself in the mirror. She sneered at her reflection before taking a chunk of her hair and just snipping it off. 

Red locks fell to the ground as she chopped off the one thing she still had from her parents. She didn’t realize she was crying until she looked up into the mirror to see her handy work. Now, he long curls had given way to a short, choppy pixie cut. Tears streamed down her face, but her lips still curled into an angry snarl. 

There. It was done. 

Someone knocked on her door. She opened it to see C, using a broken bed post as a crutch. He took one look at her hair and gave her a small smile.

“You’re still beautiful, you know,” his voice was soft and kind and Katherine was starkly reminded why he was her favorite, “you really look just like your mama.”

That what finally broke her. She lurched forward to wrap her arms around his shoulders. He steadied himself before returning the hug with one arm. She sobbed openly into his shoulder.

After a moment of just hugging him and crying, she finally pulled back. The tears had dried and she smiled at him. “Thank you C, really. Means so, so much to me.”

He smiled back. “I know, its nothin Kath. You know that.” 

She sniffed, wiping her dry eyes before standing up straight, the moment was over, it was time to get going. She moved past C to Jack’s bed. She wacked him upside the head to wake him up.

He jumped awake, looking around wildly before glaring at her. “That was rude.”

She shrugged, “sucks for you. C’mon, it’s time to get goin. Spot’s gonna leave ya if you don’t hurry it up.”

She was already walking away to grab her pack when Jack asked the dreaded question. “Yo, what the fuck happened to your hair?”

She stiffened for a beat before shaking it off and grabbing her pack. 

“It just got in the way,” she said coldly before shouldering her bag and leaving the room.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

Everyone met in the downstairs lobby. Spades and Warrior moved the barricade away from the down and Spot opened it, just a crack. 

He cursed under his breath before shutting it again. “Okay, we’re gonna have to fight our way through to the RV. There ain’t as many as before but how about not makin’ a bunch a racket and draw ‘em all out?” The group nodded. “Good, Tics, Bear, and Spades, y’all are with me. We’ll clear ‘em out and the rest of you can follow behind afterwards, picking off nay we missed. Remember, no shooting. Keep it quiet.”

The group nodded again the the first group headed out to take out as many as they could. After a minute, Katherine lead the second group out. There was a lurcher just outside the door. 

Before she could do anything, Jo Jo bashed its head in for her. She nodded a thanks at them before stepping out into the sun. Spot’s group had made quick work, bodies were piled up and they had already made it to the RV. Katherine nodded for Jack and C to go, then Jo Jo, then Race, then War. she turned around to grab Splasher, but the girl just stood in the doorway with a blank stare.

“Splasher, Splasher c’mon! Let’s go before anymore show up!” Katherine grabbed her arm, but she just jerked away and looked at Katherine with sad eyes.

“I’m sorry for what I said about you…” katherine raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Not that I’m not grateful or anything but can’t we talk about this in the RV?” she tugged at her arm again but the other girl just looked at the ground. After a moment she pulled up her sleeve. Katherine gasped out loud. There, right on her arm, was a bite mark.

“I can’t. I… it happened yesterday. Everyone was already freaking out and I didn’t wanna make it worse-” she cut herself off, looking up at Katherine with a pained expression. 

“You’re gonna have to leave me here.”

Katherine stared at her for a minute before the RV horn honked. She twisted around to see Jack hanging out the window and pointing to a nearby window. Lurchers were already crawling out of their holes and Katherine realized she would be surrounded any second.

Splasher smiled sadly, pushing at her shoulder lightly. “Go, get out of here! I’ll hold em off for you.”

Katherine stared at her before shaking her head violently. “No, no i can’t just leave you here-”

A gunshot rang out and she jumped back. Splasher had her arm raised to the sky, smoking gun in hand. The lurchers turned their rotted heads to look at them before starting their shamble over. Tears burned at Katherine’s eyes as she tugged on her arm one more time.

“Please! Come with us, there might be a cure or or-” Spalsher shook her head, shoving her back again.

“Not one we can find within a week. It’s over for me, but not you. You have a fuckin life ahead of you- now go! Get out of here!”

Katherine looked around wildly before stepping back. Splasher smiled at her before shooting a nearby lurcher. “Go! Tell Jo.. tell Jo I’m sorry.”

Katherine stared at her for a beat before turning tail and running to the RV’s open door. Splasher was screaming and cussing at the lurchers as she fired shot after shot. Katherine collapsed into an open chair before looking at Spades, who was in the driver's seat.

“Go.”

“But- Splasher’s still-”

“Just- go. She’s bit.”

Spades stared at her for a second before looking out the window at Splasher. The girl looked up and smiled at them before a lurcher hurled itself at her and sunk it’s rotting teeth into her neck. She screamed as she went down and Katherine curled in on herself.    
  
Spades locked her jaw before slamming her foot on the gas and speeding down the road. Jo Jo was glued to the window, staring silently at the girl they were leaving behind. Tears slipped down their cheeks and they dropped to their knees as they rounded a corner.

The rest of the RV was silent, minus the quiet sniffles. Tics and Bear both pushed themselves off the seat and dropped to sit on the floor on either side of Jo Jo. They silently held their hands, letting the poor kid cry into Bear’s shoulder. 

Katherine glanced around the cabin. Spades and War were talking quietly in the front seats, hands linked on the center console. Spot stood silently, leaning against the door. His blank stare glared at the ground and she could tell he was going through every possible way they could have saved her. 

Katherine knew because the same thoughts were going through hers.

Jack, C, and Race all sat around a table at the back. Race was leaning against the window, staring at each passing building while Jack and C curled around each other in silent grief.

They all drove in silence, grieving a loss they weren’t prepared to take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on killing Splasher but somehow it just felt right. Now i'm sad. Sorry y'all.


	3. Old friends

Katherine hated the silence. She was a girl of stories, and after living with Race, Jack, and C for almost a year now, the silence unnerved her. 

The RV had stayed painfully silent since they sped away from their Brooklyn home. No one had dared to say a word, not about what happened, not about what was happening, not about what was going to happen- they were all trapped in a Splasher-less limbo. 

Katherine hadn’t known her for long, and most of that time the girl was accusing her of something or another, but….. But now she was gone and the last thing she did was save Katherine's life. She shot off that shot to draw the lurchers to her and away from Katherine. She wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing that she was alive and Splasher was gone. 

They were only an hour out when the RV sputtered and stalled on the side of the road. Spades cursed and slammed her hand on the wheel. 

Spot made his way to the front, glaring like the RV had somehow wronged him by stopping, “what the fuck is this?!” Spades gestured to the gas gauge.

Empty. Wonderful. 

Spot cursed, slamming his palm down on the back of Spades's seat. “Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!”

Jack made his way to the front and laid a careful hand on his shoulder. “We’ll just have to find some gas, it’s fine.”

“Where, Jack? Where the fuck are we gonna find gas?” he whipped around, glaring Jack down. Jack met his stare.

“Somewhere, Spot. Fuckin’- we’ll find it. Might take a while but there’s gotta be some somewhere in this fuckin’ city!”

They glared eachother down for a moment before Race scoffed, breaking the tension. 

“Oh my God, take your pissing contest somewhere else. We got bigger fish to fry!”

Warrior nodded, “yeah, the twink’s right. We gotta find somewhere to sleep, food to eat, and some medicine for Jo’s arm. It’s still fucked up from that last fight.”

Spot grumbled, shoving past Jack. “Fine. I’m going out to look for somewhere to camp out, I’ll be back later.”

Race hopped to his feet, “I’ll help.”

“No, I’ll go it alone-”

“Like hell, even you need someone to watch your ass,” Katherine wasn't sure if that was a joke or not, but she somehow wouldn't be surprised, “‘sides, two axes are better than one!” He snatched an axe up from the table and twirled it around for emphasis. 

Spot did not look impressed. “Whatever, fucking banton twirler.”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━

Spot and Race came back from scouting with the location of a local motel. Most of the rooms were overflowing with biters but they ended up clearing one out for the gang to sleep in for the night until they found some gas. 

Turns out gas is harder to find then Jack had made it out to be. Days went by, days of silence and quiet grief. No one seemed to be able to find the energy for a regular conversation along with the strain of trying to get to Virginia and the grief of their earlier loss.

When the silence finally broke, it was Tics who did it. She looked up at a barely awake Katherine and smiled.

“How’d ya sleep, hon?” 

She blinked at her bleralily, gesturing to the floor she’d slept on. “I slept, I guess,” her voice was groggy and hoarse from disuse. She heard Spot snort from the bed where he was sitting with Bear.

“If that’s your way of sayin’ like shit then you’se more polite then any a’ the rest a’ us.”

Bear smiled and Tics laughed and after that, things slowly returned to normal. Well, not normal. Katherine still couldn’t sleep and every once in a while someone would break into tears, crying about how they missed Her, but they were talking again. Spot commented on Jack’s bed head as they switched lookout shifts, Warrior still called Katherine Ginger or Red, but somehow it felt more affectionate than before, Spades started a daily card game at the table in the back. 

Everyone was returning back to normal, back to a space where they were allowed to live, not just survive. 

All except Jo Jo.

The usually chaotic and loud kid had fallen behind a wall of dead stares and closed off silence. They never joined the card games, wouldn’t talk to anyone- they spent most of their time sitting at the back of the table, staring at nothing.

One night, when Katherine still couldn’t sleep, she sat up to see them still at that damn table, shuffling cards they’d never used. She rubbed her eyes and tiptoed around the bodies of sleeping teens littering the floor, there was only one bed and they took turns on it. Tonight, it was Spades and Warrior’s turn. 

“Hey..” her quiet voice jolted them out of whatever daze they were in and they looked up at her for a brief moment before turning their eyes back to the cards. 

“Hey..”

She leaned on one of the seats. “Mind if I sit with you?” They shrugged and she took that as a yes. She slid into the open seat and pulled her knees up to her chest.

They sat in silence for a while, the only sounds being the quiet breathing of their group mates. Finally, Jo Jo spoke.

“I wanna hate you, ya know.”

She looked over at them, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She didn’t ask why, she didn’t have time before they were speaking again.

“I wanna just- put all the blame on you. Scream at you about how it isn’t fair that you’re here and she isn’t. She was my best friend, ya know? We were together since the first week of this hell. Now she’s gone and you’re here and I just wanna be mad at you.”

Katherine turned her face into her knees. “I’m.. I’m sorry-”

“I’m not, though.”

She looked back at them, only to see their blank stare on the table in front of them, cards forgotten. They continued.

“I’m not mad at you, I don't blame you, I wish I did but I can’t. She was always the one who blamed people for things no one could control. When Patches died, she screamed at poor Bear until her voice went hoarse and she collapsed. Bear didn’t really mind, she just sat with her and hugged her like she always does when one of us breaks down. It was no one's fault, how were we supposed to know there would be a biter in that closet, ya know? No one could have known and he was just the unlucky bastard who opened it,” their blank stare cracked at the corners as tears slipped down their cheeks.

“She couldn’t handle it, though. It always had to be someone’s fault, always someone to blame. Ya know, when I think like this I forget all the good things about her, like how she would hug me when I woke up from nightmares or listen to me ramble about whatever- somehow the only things I can remember is the bad and I hate it because there was so much good-”

They sobbed quietly and Katherine reached out a tentative hand over the table, grabbing their’s lightly like she’d seen Tics and Bear do. They wrapped their fingers around her’s like a lifeline, wiping their tears on their sleeve.

“It would be so much easier just to hate you, but I can’t, it just ain’t fair to either of us.”

Katherine stared at the cards in silence, hand still holding Jo Jo’s. After a minute, she sighed, looking down at her shoes. “I’m sorry, I- She wanted me to tell you she was sorry.”

Jo Jo made a choked sound that sounded almost like a laugh, “of course she did! God, of course she’d tell you to tell me instead of telling me her damn self!”

“She was scared, Jo. She was bit and terrified, you can’t be angry at her for this.”

They sniffed, dragging their face across their sleeve before staring at the table again, as if it held the answers they needed. “I know she was scared, fucking all of us are! She coulda.. She coulda said goodbye, at least! She was my best friend! She was my best fucking friend and now she’s gone and she never told me goodbye!” 

They jerked their hand back and curled in on themself. Sobs shook over their body as Katherine sat there in silence, looking everywhere but at the crying kid in front of her.

Finally, after a long while, Jo Jo’s quiet voice broke through the silence again. “I miss her so much, Katherine. So so much…”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━

It was a full week later before Katherine went out with a group to search for some gas. Bear carried two jerry cans on her shoulder, followed by Tics, who had a siphon in her bag, and Race. Spot led the way to an abandoned gas station. It was all they could do to just hope and pray to a God none of them quite believed in that they would find something. The longer they stayed in New York, the heavier the fog around them felt. It was only a matter of time before their makeshift barricades fell and they were trapped in that blocked off motel with lurchers surrounding them. As the station came into view, the group sped up from a steady walk to a sprint.

“Alright, Katherine, you and Tics should search through that station for anything we might be able to use, the rest of us’ll try and get these pumps to give up some gas.”

Katherine nodded as the blonde girl handed over her siphon. Tics pressed a quick kiss to Bear’s temple before her and Katherine headed off to comb through the building. 

“You check the back, they usually have stock saved up back there,” Tics gestured to a back door before dropping to scan the mostly empty shelves. Katherine nodded and made her way to the back. 

She held her gun out at the ready as she slowly pushed open the door. The gun dropped to her side when the door creaked open only to reveal an empty room full of shelves stripped to the bone. She sighed, dropping to her knees just to make sure no forgotten supplies had rolled under the metal shelves. All she found was a half empty water bottle and a box of hello kitty bandaids. 

She stuffed them both into her bag, after all, beggars can’t be choosers. After pushing herself to her feet and dusting off her jeans, she turned to leave the back office. 

Then there was a gunshot and she jumped back, knocking into a shelf in her attempt to get away from the still open door. 

After a moment, she peaked out the door to see Tics hiding behind the counter. The blonde girl kept peaking over the top before her eyes landed on Katherine. She beckoned for her to run over, and Katherine did. Keeping her head low and footfalls quiet as she could. 

She ducked behind the counter beside Tics. “What’s going on?!” she whispered urgently. 

Tics just gestured to the front, where Katherine saw Spot, Race, and Bear standing off against two men with large guns. She ducked back down to see Tics practically shaking with rage. “Delancey’s, son of a bitch-” she cursed under her breath, hitting her palm to the floor in frustration. 

Katherine got the sense that they were not good people. She peaked over the counter again to see them shoving the three to their knees. Katherine gasped, dropping back down again to talk to Tics. 

“We have to help them!” Tics shook her head.

“No- I mean of course we do, but we have to go back and get the others-”

“They’ll be long gone by then!”

“What good are we captured or dead? We need backup-”

“Fine,” Katherine cut her off, “you go get backup, I’m going to try and help them.”

Tics tried pulling her back, but Katherine was already sneaking out from behind the counter. She crept to the front of the store, gun in hand. 

She crept slowly, ever so slowly, to the two men bearing down on her friends with their guns. Her footsteps were masked under the weird Disney villian speech they had going on, so neither of them heard her sneaking up behind them, raising her gun to aim at the back of one of their heads, loaded, aimed-

Click.

She whipped around to see a boy with red hair hidden under a hood with a gun to her head. She dropped her gun to her side, stumbling back. He was so familiar, it looked like- no it couldn’t be. 

One of the men twisted around, grinning at the two of them. “Ah, Albert, good catch. Fucking bitch thought she could sneak up on us huh?” He kicked her to the ground as Albert nodded silently, keeping his gun trained on her skull. 

She looked across the parking lot to see Race, tears streaming from his eyes. He clawed up from the ground, reaching out to the boy they all used to know. “Al... Albert-” he didn’t make it a foot forward before the brother bashed him to the ground with the hilt of his gun. He cried out, looking up with bleary eyes, still not ready to let go of the sight before him, “Albert…” another crack to the back of his skull knocked him unconscious. 

Katherine screamed out to him as Spot rushed forward, catching him before his head hit the pavement. All Katherine could do was watch as Spot dragged him back and away from the offending gun. Bear glared them down, a snarl on her lips as Spot pulled their fallen friend to safety. Katherine felt tears rush down her face, but movement from the corner of the store caught her eye. She glanced over to see Tics watching with bated breath, hand on her gun. 

Katherine choked on a sob, shaking her head minutely. Albert turned his head to see what she was looking at so she swept his legs and knocked him to the ground before he could aim his gun. “Run! Go, get the others! GO!” 

The other brothers turned to aim their weapons but Bear sneered and jumped forward to drag one down to the ground. She got a good punch to his face before his brother kicked her off him. He growled before slamming her to the ground. When he turned back to shoot at Tics, she had already disappeared. He groaned, dropping the weapon to his side. 

Katherine watched as Albert forced himself to his feet, kicking Katherine to the ground when he stood up. She cried out, but he kicked her again. A sob shook her sore body as the rest of her friends were rounded up, handcuffed, and thrown in the back of their armored van. Albert forced her to her feet after binding her wrists and shoved her towards the van. She turned her head to look at him with tear filled eyes. 

“Albert.. Please help us..”

His blank stare shifted for a moment, it became something akin to remorse, but it was gone within the second. He shoved her roughly into the back with her friends before slamming the doors shut and drowning the group in darkness. 

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━

They rode in relative silence, they could barely see a thing and Katherine had no idea where they were going to end up. Spot had Race’ head in his lap while Bear tried freeing her hands from the cuffs. It was no use and all of them remained bound until the rattling truck came to a stop.

Katherine just stared at her feet as the light flooded into the back as the doors flung open. She heard Bear make a strangled sounding noise as she snarled at them like a wild dog. 

The blonde haired boy who had opened the back gave her a blank look, "down, girl," he gestured for them to crawl out with his gun, "c'mon, boss wants to see you."

This time it was Spot who sneered, snapping at them with a locked jaw, "we ain't got nothin to say to him,"

The boy scoffed, aiming his gun into the back of the van, directly at Spot. "You ain't exactly in the position to make demands, Conlon."

He sneered and opened his mouth to say something else, but movement from the clump in his lap caught his attention instead. Race groaned, shifting his weight to push himself closer to Spot. "Fuck… That's bright.." 

Katherine clambered over to him as Spot tried getting him to sit up. "Race!" She threw her arms around his shoulders, almost falling over Spot in her haste to hug her friend. It was awkward with the handcuffs, but at this point she could care less about how they looked. He found the strength to carefully settle his hands on her back. 

"Kath… Kath-" he pulled back, eyes a mix of panic and confusion, "Al- Al he's- please tell me it wasn't-"

She sniffed, carefully pulling back, arms going over his head before her hands cupped his cheeks. "It's okay, Race. There's.. There's gotta be an explanation-"

The boy out front rolled his eyes, "ya can talk and walk, can't ya? Hurry it up. Boss ain't a patient man."

Spot huffed, sliding out the back before offering an arm to Race and Katherine. "C'mon, let's see what Satan wants with us today."

They all slid out the back, Race being newly handcuffed after waking up. Katherine and Spot flanked him while Bear took up the rear. The blonde led them silently across whatever hellish camp they'd been taken to. Katherine was busy planning the best escape routes to notice all the weirdly armored teenage boys staring at them like they were fresh meat.

Bear, meanwhile, was getting more and more restless by the second. She glared at everyone who passed, lips curled into a permanent snarl. Katherine was kind of taken aback, she'd never seen Bear like this. She always seemed so calm and collected but right now, she looked more like her namesake than ever before. 

They were led into what looked to be an abandoned gas station turned evil Disney villain lair. Katherine felt it was a little on the nose but she didn’t think they were brought there in handcuffs to critique their interior design. 

They were shoved to their knees in front of a cheap looking desk. Behind it sat a middle aged man with a permanatally scrunched nose and a general vibe of “I say the word queer as an insult for anyone I don’t like.” We all know those people, and Katherine could feel the group's collective anxiety grow as the man watched them with his beady little eyes. 

Finally, he smiled. A crooked, sinister looking smile. “Well, been a while Mister Conlon. Please, have a seat. We have some business to discuss,” 

The blonde dragged them all into old plastic chairs. Spot was the only one who was allowed to remain standing, glaring down at those beady little eyes.

“Weasel,” he nodded, face unreadable.

Well, his face was unreadable, but the way his hands clenched around his handcuffs betrayed his anger. Katherine could tell he wanted nothing more than to lunge forwards and slam his face into that stupid wooden desk. 

The man made a face, but didn’t try to correct him. This was apparently an ongoing battle.

“Nice to see you’re still a smart ass. Now, enough with the pleasantries, let’s talk business,” he leaned forward on his desk, arms crossed. Katherine saw Bear lean back in her chair, lips curled up in a snarl. She looked feral- Katherine wasn’t sure whether to be scared of her or for her.

“See, last time you ran with us, you took something. Something very valuable- do you remember?” Spot clenched his jaw. Race and Katherine watched him with confused eyes. Spades words filtered back into her mind, about how they had all been thieves once in their lives. 

"Patches wasn't yours, Weasel. Ya didn't fucking own him, he was his own person and he choose to leave." He wasn't yelling, not yet at least. His voice was eerily calm but the words behind it made her stomach roll.

Weasel sneered, "I gave that boy purpose, a community and a chance to do something worthwhile in his life. It was a gift, and he owed me" he spit out the work 'gift' as if it tasted bitter on his lips. 

He took a breath before sitting back in his shitty office chair. "Speaking of gifts, tell me, Bear dear, how's your throat healing? It's certainly nice to be without your grating voice for once." That seemed to be the final straw for both Spot and Bear.

Bear surged forward in her chair, teeth barred like an animal while Spot matched her expression in his tone.

"You leave her the fuck alone-"

Weasel tsked, signaling for his goons to pull Bear back into her chair by her short hair and jerking on the cuffs that bound Spot's arms together. They both hissed in pain and automatically jerked away from their capters rough hands. 

"Simmer down, the both of you. Now answer me, where is the boy?" 

"He's gone, Weasel. Gone!" Finally, Spot was shouting and Katherine could see tears welling up in his chocolate brown eyes, "he- he's gone and you'll never hurt him again!" 

Weasel sneered, shoving up from his chair before stomping around the table. Katherine couldn't bring herself to look as a resounding smack was heard and Spot fell to the ground, gritting his teeth in pain. When she finally looked up, she saw Weasel huffing, anger radiating from his shaking body.

"You're lying!"

Spot looked up at the man before spitting on his shoe.

He sneered and kicked spot back down with his boot, "fine, if I can't have the boy, then I'll simply have to take another," his beady eyes narrowed in on Race and he smiled. Katherine could feel her heart drop as he spoke, sickly sweet tone making her sick to her stomach, "that one will do. Take him to the chamber and send the rest to the cages. I'll figure out what to do with our old friend here soon enough."

Before Katherine could react, the blonde boy grabbed Race by his chains and jerked him towards the door. He shouted and tried to fight away from his grip, "no- fuck you lemme go- Kath! Fuck- let go of me!" 

It was all for none as the boy dragged Race away and down the hall. Spot scrambled from the floor, arms straining against his own confinements. 

"No! Let 'em go- Race!" He shoved passed one of the guards but there was already another to take his place, grabbing Spot by his hair and slamming him into a wall. He groaned as Bear jumped forward, placing herself between him and the guard. She snarled like a rabid dog, glaring down the teenage boy with deadly rage as Spot forced himself to his feet. 

Katherine watched this all in terrified silence, not yet able to will her voice into any reasonable sound. How could this happen- what was even happening? Bear nodded for her to stand, to stick near her as they were all herded down a separate hall and into an old jailhouse. 

Bear nudged her shoulder. She looked up into those dark, angry eyes and she knew, she just knew what Bear was trying to say.

'We'll get him back, we have to'

She stared back at the ground as they were shoved into an old damp cell. How could she get him back if she didn't even know what happened to him? How could she save him if she couldn't even save herself?

The door slammed shut and Katherine collapsed.

"What are we gonna do?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aliiiiive 
> 
> Honestly I've been dealing with one hell of a writers block and of course I come back with some angsty zombie au

**Author's Note:**

> zombie au tiiiime!! can u believe it took be over 2000 words to zombie in my zombie au? Also yeah i know im bad at finishing things but i swear im trying!!


End file.
